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Apple seems to buck declining PC shipment estimates

The PC market is in a serious decline both in the US and globally. According to Gartner, most manufacturers are struggling, except Apple which is on the rise.

Gartner's latest figures show that worldwide PC shipment estimates for Q4 2011 fell 1.4 percent. The biggest losers in the last three months of 2011 were HP and Acer, which declined 16.2 percent and 18.4 percent respectively. These numbers were even worse for the US market where shipment estimates declined 5.9 percent, the worst performance in the last decade.

The only bright spots, in an otherwise abysmal report, were recorded by Lenovo, Asus and Apple. While Acer and HP struggled in Q4, Lenovo and Asus were booming globally. Lenovo increased its shipments by 23 percent, and Asus grew an equally impressive 20.5 percent. Apple, however, was the star of the US market. The company's US shipments increased a significant 20.7 percent, while competitors like HP and Acer slipped 26.1 percent and 11.4 percent, respectively.

Analysts blame hard drive shortages for this quarterly decline. The supply of hard drives declined after devastating floods ravaged Thailand earlier in 2011. Though other manufacturers were struggling with supply constraints, Apple cruised along without missing a beat. Sales of the MacBook Air, which ships with flash storage and not a hard disk drive, probably gave Apple this extra bump.